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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

COMIC CON - DAY FOUR - MASQUERADE BALL

I saved the best for last. Well, maybe “best” isn’t quite the right word to use.

Any time the subject of a comic or sci-fi convention comes up—especially when talking to someone that’s never been to one—inevitably (and excusably, because people seem to think that anything they’ve ever seen on Entourage is a completely accurate depiction of real life) the first image that pops into their heads is thousands of nerds dressed up like Batman. And that’s only partially true.

While the ratio of costumed people : everyday clothes is fairly low, the ones that are dressed up are easy to spot—even in a sea of 115,000 other people. Some get really creative, some get really obscure and some dress purely for shock value–which usually become the most memorable costumes.

I’ll tell you a little secret: If you’re an attractive woman—scratch that, if you’re a halfway decent looking woman—and you want to be treated like a celebrity for a day, dress up and go to a convention. It doesn’t matter who or what you dress up as, so long as you’re wearing some sort of costume. You can pick a well-known character like Wonder Woman, or you can make up your own half-assed attempt. As long as you show a little cleavage and don’t mind 45-year-old men following and staring at you , you’ll be a hit. Camera flashes will be going off every 30 seconds, and you’ll be asked to pose for pictures all day long. If you want, you can wear the same thing for the whole convention and be famous all weekend. But be aware that there will always be a trashier version of the costume you’re wearing waiting in the next aisle to steal your spotlight. Prepare accordingly.

Some people take a lot of time preparing, while others look like they threw something together that morning. Both ends of that spectrum are equally fascinating.

Besides splitting time between the costumes, the weird booths, fallen idols and pseudo-celebrities, I did manage to catch a few panels. Iron Man 2 looks spectacular, and Robert Downey Jr. knows how to work a room. Kevin Smith said Bruce Willis misinterpreted his invitation, and thought Smith was attending something called “Commie-Con” and declined to attend something so un-American. Marvel announced that they finally acquired the rights to a character named Marvel Man (once called Miracle Man) that’s been in legal limbo for decades. People claimed Twilight fans ruined the convention (they had home-made signs and everything!), and Twilight fans were mad that there wasn’t a bigger presence. Geoff Johns is back writing Flash at DC and since I no longer have a beard I wasn’t mistaken for Ben Foster a single time this year.